Mafia Boss Second Hideout Found

A second hideout used by Italy's most wanted mobster Matteo Messina Denaro has been discovered at the back of a wardrobe with a sliding base, Italian police have said.  The newly-discovered armoured bunker is in a house about 300m from the Mafia boss's first hideout in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara.


He was arrested on Tuesday at a private clinic in Sicily's capital, Palermo.  Police had been hunting Messina Denaro for three decades.
How Mafia boss was caught at a clinic after 30 years.  Messina Denaro was undergoing treatment for cancer at the clinic, and had made the appointment under a false name.


The alias, Andrea Bonafede, aroused the suspicion of police when they realised it was the name of deceased Mafia boss Leonardo Bonafede's nephew.  Phone-mapping showed the real Bonafede's mobile was not in Palermo in 2020 and 2021 when a man using the name had surgery in the city.


During his time at the top of the Cosa Nostra organised crime syndicate, Messina Denaro oversaw racketeering, illegal waste dumping, money-laundering and drug-trafficking.  READ MORE...

Alleged Mafia Gambling Hangout

Sal's Shoe Repair in Merrick, New York, was doing more than fixing heels and worn soles.

The Genovese organized crime family operated an illegal gambling operation out of the shop, generating "substantial revenue," which was then laundered through cash transfers, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

Nine purported members and associates of the Genovese and Bonanno organized crime families were charged Tuesday with racketeering and illegal gambling offenses for running gambling parlors out of other legitimate-seeming establishments in Queens and on Long Island, including a coffee bar and La Nazionale Soccer Club.


Salvatore Rubino, 58, known as "Sal the Shoemaker," was among those arrested, prosecutors said.

A Nassau County police detective, Hector Rosario, is also among the defendants. He allegedly accepted money from the Bonanno family in exchange for offering to arrange police raids of competing gambling locations, according to the indictment. He is charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying to the FBI.  READ MORE...